Hydraulic reservoir

ABSTRACT

A hydraulic reservoir finding particular application as a pressure reservoir for hydro-pneumatic resilient suspensions for vehicles in which the interior of a casing constituting the reservoir is divided by a movable deflectable separating wall or partition into a gas chamber and a liquid chamber, the casing being provided with a gas connection communicating with the gas chamber and a liquid connection communicating with the liquid chamber for supplying and removing gas and liquid into or from the respective chambers and the separating wall or partition being provided with a cover member removably connected thereto which serves to prevent the wall or partition sliding or moving into the liquid connection when the liquid chamber is empty.

[451 Jan. 29, 1974 HYDRAULIC RESERVOIR [75] Inventor: Walter Wieland, am Roten, Kreuz,

Germany [73] Assignee: Langen & Company, Dusseldorf,

Germany [22] Filed: Aug. 1, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 277,128

[52] US. Cl 267/64 R, 267/65 B [51] Jim. Cl Fl6f 3/07 [58] Field of Search 267/64,,65 B

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,978,254 4/1961 Bundorf 267/64 3,309,108 3/1967 Wilkins et al. 267/64 Primary Examiner-James B. Marbert Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Holman & Stern 5 7] ABSTRACT A hydraulic reservoir finding particular application as a pressure reservoir for hydro-pneumatic resilient suspensions for vehicles in which the interior of a casing constituting the reservoir is divided by a movable deflectable separating wall or partition into a gas chamber and a liquid chamber, the casing being provided with a gas connection communicating with the gas chamber and a liquid connection communicating with the liquid chamber for supplying and removing gas and liquid into or from the respective chambers and the separating wall or partition being provided with a cover member removably connected thereto which serves to prevent the wall or partition sliding or moving into the liquid connection when the liquid chamber is empty.

13 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures HYDRAULIC RESERVOIR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hydraulic reservoir in which a casing constituting the reservoir is provided with a movable deflectable wall or partition dividing the interior of the housing into a gas chamber and a fluid chamber, a connection for each chamber through which gas and liquid can be supplied and removed, with the gas connection having a lockable closing means, and a cover member removably connected with the wall or partition preventing the sliding out or moving of the wall or partition into and through the liquid connection when the liquid chamber is empty. Generally the cover member comprises a head portion facing the gas chamber and a foot portion separated from the head portion by a shank of reduced diameter, with the foot portion being of such dimensions as to cover the liquid connection.

PRIOR ART Such a type of hydraulic reservoir is known in French Pat. No. 1,526,530. In this patent, the cover member is provided with a plate-shaped foot portion which has a relatively large diameter as well as a head portion with a substantially smaller diameter.

It is an important object of the instant invention to prevent the cover member from becoming detached from its holding means during the strongest dynamic force.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above and other important objects of this invetion are achieved in that in the area of the reduced shank diameter from the side of the gas chamber, a holding member is positioned around the dividing wall or partition with its inside diameter in the mounted position being lesser than the greatest diameter of the head portion increased by twice the thickness of the wall of the partition in this area. The inside diameter of the holding member may thus be greater than the diameter of the head portion.

This solution is particularly efficacious for very rigid holding members which are mounted under deformation of the partition but the inside diameter may also be equal to or less than the diameter of the head portion. A mounting of the member in this situation is then possible only with the assistance of an elastic deformation of the holding member and a suitable form for a holding member is, for example, a circular ring which may be an endless ring or of split type or of a multiple wound design. Steel, or a hard synthetic material or the like is recommended as a material for rigid rings but deformed rings, insofar as they are endless, should be of synthetic material.

A further embodiment of a holding member may be in the form of a pot-shaped cap, the rim thereof being inverted in the area of the reduced shank diameter and to avoid sharp edges, the rim may subsequently be formed into a groove.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description and the next drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in cross section of a hydraulic reservoir having a ring-shaped holding member, the inside diameter of which is greater than the diameter of the head portion,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A casing denoted generally 1 and constituting the reservoir is provided with a cover la secured thereto in a leak proof manner as indicated at lb although of course the casing and cover can be an integral unit.

The interior of the reservoir is divided by a membrane or partition 2 into a gas chamber 3 and a liquid chamber 4. A gas inlet opening 7 communicates with the chamber 3 and may be tightly closed by a closure screw 5 and packing 6.

A liquid connection 8 connects the chamber 4 with a source of liquid.

It will be noted that the partition 2 is provided with a recess 9 in which is mounted a cover member denoted generally 10. The member 10 is of a material having a greater stability than the partition 2 and rests upon the connection 8 when the liquid chamber 4 is empty as illustrated by the dot-dash line.

The cover member 10 includes a head portion 11 separated from a foot portion 12 by a shank 13 of reduced diameter. Adjacent the side of the gas chamber 3, a ring 14 is positioned around the partition 2 in the area of the reduced shank 13, with the outer contour of the partition wall being approximately in accordance with the reduced diameter of the shank IS. The inside diameter dl of the ring 14 is greater than the diameter d0 of the head portion but is less than d0 plus 2..\ in which s represents the thickness of the wall of the undeformed partition in this zone.

A ring 15 is illustrated in FIG. 2 having an inside diameter of d2 equals do and this ring naturally must be elastically deformable. The deformation may, for example, be obtained by the use of a slotted ring such as shown at 16 in FIG. 3.

However, the ring may be of a stretchable, elastic material.

In FIG. 4, a pot-shaped holding member I7 is illustrated and the member 17 is provided with a rim 18 which, after the mounting is formed inwardly by means of a special tool, the rim may be shaped outwardly into a groove to provide a rounded guiding area for the partition. In other words, this component eliminates sharp edges which sharp edges may have an adverse affect on the partition.

While the present invention is described in connection with a welded hydraulic reservoir having a partition or dividing wall designed as a membrane, it is to be understood that the invention is suitable for bubbleshaped divider walls as well as for threaded hydraulic reservoirs or reservoirs having a unitary housing as previously described.

Further embodiments are also possible for the holding member particularly such which in the mounting direction are easily movable by certain designs and require in the counter direction a substantially higher expenditure of force. Holding members of a snap type could also be employed.

What is claimed is:

l. A hydraulic reservoir including a casing, a deflectable partition wall dividing the interior of the casing into a gas chamber and a liquid chamber, a liquid connection for supplying and removing liquid into and from the liquid chamber, a gas-tight closable gas inlet for introducing gas into the gas chamber, and a cover member removably attached to the partition for preventing the sliding out of the partition through the liquid connection when the liquid chamber is empty, said cover member comprising a head portion, a foot portion and a shank of reduced diameter between and separating the head and foot portions, said partition wall having a recess at the liquid chamber side for receiving the head portion and shank of the cover member, and a holding means positioned around the partition wall on the gas chamber side thereof urging the partition wall into the shank portion of reduced diameter to connect the cover member to the partition, the inside diameter of the holding means in the mounted position being less than the greatest diameter of the head portion of the cover member increased by twice the thickness of the wall of the partition in the area thereof engaging the shank portion.

2. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 1 in which the inside diameter of the holding means is greater than the diameter of the head portion of the cover member.

3. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 1 in which the inside diameter of the holding means is not greater than the diameter of the head portion.

4. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is of rigid material.

5. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is a strongly stretchable, elastic material.

6. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is defined by an endless ring.

7. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 6 in which the ring is circular.

8. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is defined by a slotted ring.

9. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means consists of a plurality of windmgs.

10. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is plastically deformed following installation.

11. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 10 in which the holding means includes a pot-shaped body provided with an inwardly pressed rim.

12. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 11 in which the rim is provided with a groove, the open side of the groove facing the gas chamber.

13. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is of such configuration that there is a lesser movement resistance in the mounting direction than in the counter direction. 

1. A hydraulic reservoir including a casing, a deflectable partition wall dividing the interior of the casing into a gas chamber and a liquid chamber, a liquid connection for supplying and removing liquid into and from the liquid chamber, a gas-tight closable gas inlet for introducing gas into the gas chamber, and a cover member removably attached to the partition for preventing the sliding out of the partition through the liquid connection when the lIquid chamber is empty, said cover member comprising a head portion, a foot portion and a shank of reduced diameter between and separating the head and foot portions, said partition wall having a recess at the liquid chamber side for receiving the head portion and shank of the cover member, and a holding means positioned around the partition wall on the gas chamber side thereof urging the partition wall into the shank portion of reduced diameter to connect the cover member to the partition, the inside diameter of the holding means in the mounted position being less than the greatest diameter of the head portion of the cover member increased by twice the thickness of the wall of the partition in the area thereof engaging the shank portion.
 2. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 1 in which the inside diameter of the holding means is greater than the diameter of the head portion of the cover member.
 3. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 1 in which the inside diameter of the holding means is not greater than the diameter of the head portion.
 4. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is of rigid material.
 5. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is a strongly stretchable, elastic material.
 6. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is defined by an endless ring.
 7. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 6 in which the ring is circular.
 8. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is defined by a slotted ring.
 9. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means consists of a plurality of windings.
 10. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is plastically deformed following installation.
 11. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 10 in which the holding means includes a pot-shaped body provided with an inwardly pressed rim.
 12. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 11 in which the rim is provided with a groove, the open side of the groove facing the gas chamber.
 13. The hydraulic reservoir as claimed in claim 2 in which the holding means is of such configuration that there is a lesser movement resistance in the mounting direction than in the counter direction. 